Alternate Reality: Circus
by Celeste5502
Summary: A creepy circus has come into town and its ringmaster is kidnapping some of the kids of Domino-including young Mokuba Kaiba. Now our heroes have to stop him before the children become the ringmaster's sideshow attractions for eternity...Please R&R!
1. Prologue: The Music

Author's note: Thank you to **Green Phantom Queen** for her collaboration with me on this story! :)

Prologue: The Music

Mokuba Kaiba opened the back door of the black limo. He swung his backpack off of his shoulder and placed it down onto the seat, then went inside and slammed the door shut behind him. "Kaiba Corp, please," he told the driver.

The limo started speeding away in the direction of the Kaiba Corporation building. Mokuba knew his brother wouldn't be there for another hour or so, since he was still in school, but he couldn't wait until he came home. He'd gotten a perfect score on the test he'd taken a couple of days ago, which made him absolutely ecstatic and eager to show his brother the paper. It almost seemed like after that, nothing could spoil his day.

Smiling and leaning back on the seat, he reached over and pressed a button on the side of the limo door which made the window go down. He sighed as he let the gentle breeze wash over him.

Suddenly, the faint notes of a strange melody started coming into the limo, carried by the wind blowing inside. Mokuba opened his eyes upon hearing the music and leaned towards the window to try and discern the familiar sounding tune. As he listened closely, he realized that it sounded like that calliope music which played at carnivals and such all the time.

He closed his eyes again and started rubbing his forehead as the music grew louder and louder. He'd suddenly gotten a strange headache at the sound, and he started to groan in slight pain. "Uhh…" he murmured.

When he opened his eyes, he saw the source of the music riding in the street next to the limousine. It was a wooden circus wagon painted in traditional colors of red and white, with a top made to look similar to a circus tent, pointed upwards and with a red pennant and megaphones blaring out the circus music on its tip. Written on the side of the wagon in large, black and gold letters were the words _Cirque du Shadows._

Drawing the wagon itself was a man riding a large, black horse decorated with a golden feather perched on its head, golden bridles, and a gold saddle. The man himself was wearing a black, shiny top hat, a red coat with yellow buttons and tails, a white vest, black pants, and black shoes. Clutched firmly in his hand was a coiled-up black whip. He looked rather sinister with his slicked-back black hair, piercing black eyes, and a long, black mustache curled up at its ends.

Mokuba blinked. He didn't know why, but all of a sudden he had an extremely strong urge to get out of the limo and go towards the circus wagon. He called up to the driver, "Stop!"

A bit shocked by the sudden outburst, the driver quickly slammed his foot onto the brake, bringing the black car to a screeching halt.

Mokuba opened the door and jumped out of the side the circus wagon was on, slamming it shut behind him. The ringmaster, upon seeing Mokuba come out, pulled on his horse's reigns and made it come to a halt.

Mokuba turned, stuck his head in through the open window and said, "You can drive back to Kaiba Corp alone; I won't need the ride."

Confused but compliant, the driver pushed down on the accelerator and the limo sped off down the street.

Mokuba turned and looked up at the ringmaster, who gave him a rather sickly sweet smile. "Hello there, my child," he said. The ringmaster got down from the horse's back and walked up to Mokuba. He held out a white-gloved hand towards him. "Why don't you come up and check out what I've got in my wagon? You'd like to see what sorts of secret, hidden things go on outside of the actual circus, wouldn't you?"

For some reason, Mokuba didn't feel nervous or hesitant about going with him. In fact, he was practically drawn towards him. "Sure, I'd love to," he smiled. He took his hand and let the ringmaster guide him around to the back of the circus wagon.

At the back of the wagon, two red-painted wooden doors had been sealed up firmly with a chain and padlock wrapped around their handles. The ringmaster pulled out a large metal key on a ring from his jacket pocket and placed it into the lock. After a turn and a small _click_, the padlock snapped open. He pulled the chain off from the doors, grasped one at its handle, and pulled it open. "Do come inside, look around."

Mokuba climbed up into the wagon, with the ringmaster right behind him, smiling devilishly.

After a little bit of time, a bright flash of red light suddenly came out through the slightly open doors of the wagon. The ringmaster jumped back out of the wagon and slammed the door shut. He quickly took the padlock and chain and snapped it back around the handles, sealing the doors up tight.

"Now don't you try and go anywhere, little guy," the ringmaster called inside. "As of now, you are the property of Ringmaster Yingya."

With that, he walked around the wagon and got back up onto his horse. "C'mon, Umakuro-let's go and set the circus up. So many mortal children to bring here, so little time…"


	2. Chapter One: Cirque du Shadows

Chapter One: Cirque du Shadows

The next day, another round of classes had ended not too long ago at Domino High. A flood of kids dressed in the high school uniform came out of the front doors, eager to get home especially since the weekend was just beginning. In the midst of the flood were five of the six heroes attending that school, having agreed to meet up at the Game Shop afterwards to try and savor the time they had as normal teenagers.

Kaiba, meanwhile, made his way up towards the front of the sea of kids, silver briefcase clutched firmly in his hand. He walked over towards the curb in front of the school, where his black limo was sitting and waiting for him.

He opened the door and was about to place his briefcase onto the seat when he suddenly noticed Mokuba's backpack just lying there. Puzzled, he called up to the driver, "What's Mokuba's backpack doing here?"

"Your brother left it behind, sir," the driver replied. "He chose not to take a ride back to Kaiba Corp. Simply had me drop him off right in the middle of the street."

Almost immediately, alarms started going off in Kaiba's head. He narrowed his eyes and asked, "He just got out for no reason?"

"No, sir, I believe he was going to check out a circus wagon nearby," the driver said. "He seemed quite persistent about going to see it."

The other five, after seeing that something was going on with Kaiba, had stopped and listened in on the conversation between him and the limo driver. Now, Yugi said to the others, "That's weird…Mokuba wouldn't just run off like that."

"Heh boy," Joey muttered, "why do I get de feeling dat sometin' crazy is about ta happen…"

Almost at the exact moment he said that, a strange sort of music came floating by on the air. The six looked up and listened to the faint tunes of a calliope, playing the familiar music one heard at a carnival or circus.

A few minutes afterwards, a sudden sea of children came running down the streets and sidewalks, some dragging their parents with surprising strength behind them, others dashing away from them as they chased them and called for them to come back.

"Man, I hate it when I'm right…" Joey groaned as the crowd of kids and parents dashed past the school, down the street, and out of sight.

"C'mon, everyone, let's go see what this is about," Yugi said, running after the crowd of children. While his other four friends followed after him, Kaiba looked back at the driver and said, "Just go back to Kaiba Corp-I won't be needing your services for a while." _Not while I'm caught up in more of this fairy tale madness…_

With that, he slammed the door to the limousine shut with great force and ran off after the other five.

* * *

After following the group of children and parents for some time, the heroes found that all of them were heading straight towards the park. Over the green treetops, they could just see the very tip of a red and white striped circus tent with a red pennant flag placed onto its top and loudspeakers placed onto it which were blaring out the calliope music all over the town.

Once they had made their way down the dirt path through a sea of green leaves and grass, the heroes came upon the clearing within which stood the circus itself, where all of the activity was taking place around the tent. The swarm of kids had parted as they made their way towards different activities and attractions. Some were going up to ornate cages painted in red and white where all sorts of animals such as tigers, monkeys, and panthers were lounging around, watching the people coming up to them and, in the case of the monkeys, occasionally squealing and trying to play with the kids. Others eagerly lined up for chances to ride on beautiful ponies and elephants decorated with gold and black saddles to cushion the kids' rides being led around by various circus workers. Still others made their way towards red and white food carts where they lined up to buy sodas, cotton candy, and peanuts as their parents wearily pulled out their wallets. And a few more had gathered in little crowds around groups of various entertainers, from clowns with painted faces and flamboyantly colored outfits to stilt-walkers who juggled everything from colored balls to knives.

Kaiba scanned the crowd of kids, but to his annoyance, he couldn't see Mokuba around anywhere. "Where in the world is he…" he muttered to himself.

"Perhaps he's in there somewhere?" Bakura commented, pointing at the circus tent.

Kaiba immediately went over to the circus tent and pushed its flaps at the entrance open, with the other five following behind him.

Inside of the big top, crowds of cheering kids and slightly less amused adults were watching from bright yellow bleachers which were separated from the actual performance area by short walls painted in red and white stripes. The tent was almost completely dark except for spotlights positioned at the top of it which focused on twin trapeze artists dressed in tight red spandex leotards decorated with gold glitter just finishing up with their act. At the moment, one of them was hanging on a trapeze by their knees, and the other holding on to their partner's wrists. The latter leapt away from their partner's grasp and somersaulted through the air, grabbing onto the other trapeze just barely with their two hands. The former, in the meantime, swung their arms up and also grabbed onto the bar, pulling their legs off of the bar so that their only grasp on it was with their hands. Then, the two simultaneously spun around on the trapezes for a few moments before letting go and falling down onto the trampoline right below them, landing on their own two feet and spreading their arms out in a triumphant finish.

The crowd clapped wildly for the performers. As they cheered, an amplified voice called out over their cries, "AREN'T THEY MAGNIFICENT, PEOPLE? GIVE THOSE GIRLS A HUGE HAND!"

One of the spotlights shifted from the girls over to another section of the tent where a man who was obviously the ringmaster of the place was walking out towards the center of the circus ring, clapping right along with the folks in the crowd. As the twin artists walked away from the spotlights to leave the tents, all of them turned their focus onto the ringmaster, who rose his arms up and yelled, "THANK YOU SO MUCH, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! AND NOWWWW…BEFORE WE GO TODAY, WE HAVE A SPECIAL TREAT FOR YOU!"

The crowd members quickly shushed each other into complete silence. The ringmaster walked over to one corner of the circus tent, the spotlights keeping their light on him the entire time. In the corner was a large, cylinder-shape item covered up with a blue cloth that completely hid whatever lay underneath.

The ringmaster spread his hands out and whispered in an awestruck voice, "Coming soon, folks…things which have never been seen before…oddities of the human race...wonders which will completely stupefy you…and right here, underneath this cloth, is one of these future members of the wonderful attraction…"

He grasped the blue cloth. "BEHOLD! A MINIATURE SEA MONSTER!"

With a flourish, he yanked the cloth off, revealing a round, covered glass tub filled almost to the brim with water. Floating inside of the tub was a strange, human-like creature of the sea. While he had long, black hair and was clad in a white and yellow striped shirt with a sleeveless red pullover and light blue kerchief around his neck, blue jeans, and dark blue and black sneakers, he also had skin covered in shining green scales, webbed fingers, and green fins right behind his ears.

Kaiba and the other's eyes widened in sheer horror. Despite the green scales, they could still discern who the little sea creature was from his clothing, dark hair, and black eyes.

"MOK-" Kaiba began, but a hand was suddenly clamped over his mouth.

A familiar voice whispered into his ear, "Shh…_chico_, I know you're probably mad as heck, but revealing yourself to that ringmaster isn't going to help either you or him. C'mon, let's go and talk somewhere away from here."

Kaiba angrily pulled the person's hand off of his mouth and muttered, "Fine." He turned around and, along with the other heroes, walked out of the circus tent.


	3. Chapter Two: The Sea Creature

Chapter Two: The Sea Creature

_Half an hour earlier…_

A young child slowly awoke from a quiet slumber, though he still kept his eyes shut. His head was feeling a little bit foggy, and he had aches and pains running up and down his body. All around him, he could feel a cool liquid ebbing and flowing, running through his hair and soaking through his clothing.

"Uhh…" he groaned. _Where am I…_He paused. _Wait a minute…who am I?_

He slowly opened his eyes and found himself staring up at a blue, watery world. He sat up and looked around.

The place seemed unfamiliar. He was sitting inside of a glass tub which currently was in one corner of a wooden room covered with bright red paint. In other places throughout the room, he could see various metal-barred cages had been set up, which at the moment were awaiting captives to reside within them. Both his tub and the cages were glowing with a strange red light around their outlines, as though something extremely powerful was resonating from within them.

As he gazed around the room, he suddenly caught a reflection of himself in the glass. Apparently, he was a kid with long black hair that flowed up behind him in the water and dark eyes filled with wonder and curiosity. He had skin covered in green, shining scales, dark green, pointed fins up behind his ears, and little flaps on the side of his neck which apparently were letting him breathe in and out in the water. He looked down at his hands, and saw they had thin, green skin in between the fingers that webbed them together.

He frowned as he turned them over and flexed them as best he could. Something about them…they just didn't seem right…

The two back doors to the room opened with loud creaks. The kid looked up to see a man with black hair, beady black eyes and a black mustache curled at the ends step up into the room, being careful to shut the doors behind him. He was wearing a rather interesting outfit of red and black, with a black top hat perched on his head and a coiled-up black whip grasped firmly in his hands.

The man's eyes fell upon the child. Smiling, he walked over to the glass tub and called out just loud enough so that the kid could hear him: "Hello in there! Finally woken up, have you?"

The child nodded.

"You're wondering what in the world is going on here, aren't you," the man said. He sighed. "Well, child, I'm quite sorry, but it's a rather sad story. You are the product of a little affair between a male human and a mermaid-not quite human, yet not even just half-fish. Both of your worlds rejected you for who you were, and eventually you were seen as so much of a threat to the human world that they tied you up to a pole and left you in the middle of a sandy beach, just inches away from that water which you needed to breathe and live. When I found you, you were gasping and struggling so much for just a drop of that liquid…I took you in and placed you into this nice little glass tub filled with it. I apologize if it looks a little strange, but I had to zap it up really quickly in order for you to get in there and survive. Will it be all right for you?"

The child looked around the glass tub. He closed his eyes, took in a deep breath of the cool liquid around him through his little gills and found the 'drink' quite refreshing. He looked back down, opened his eyes, and nodded.

"I'm glad you like it," the man said. "I'll let you live in it, if you like. There's only one thing which I ask for in return. You're not afraid of people, are you?"

The child blinked. _Am I…no, I don't think so…_He shook his head.

"Good. I'd just like it if every once in a while, I could take you in your little glass tub and place you into the center of a ring where they could feast their eyes on you and see you for the wondrous creature whom you are. Would you mind terribly if I did that?"

The little sea creature thought about it for a moment. _Hmm…well, he did save my life…so I guess I kind of owe him for that…_He nodded in agreement.

"Wonderful! You may call me Ringmaster Yingya. I'll come back a little later to move you out for your first appearance."

As the man turned around to leave, he called over his shoulder, "Oh, and one more thing: In case you were thinking you were going to get a little lonely in here, don't worry. Pretty soon, you're going to have lots of company..."


	4. Chapter Three: The Ringmaster

Chapter Three: The Ringmaster

The seven heroes made their way out of the tent, through the crowd of children and parents outside, and back into the woods of the park. They stepped off of the dirt path and into the shade of the trees so that no one could see them.

Kaiba folded his arms and narrowed his eyes at the newcomer, King Spencer of the Dimension of the Gods. "Okay, Spencer, what's the name of this psychopathic freak who managed to escape from your world and make his way into ours?!" he snapped.

Spencer sighed. "His name is Ringmaster Yingya. Once upon a time, he owned the largest, most popular circus in the entirety of our world, and people would come from miles around to watch his show. He had tons of exotic animals, incredible performers, the best food you could ask for…to put it simply, his place rocked. But about five thousand years ago, he created a new sideshow for his circus which he simply referred to as a Freak Show. Tiny children the size of thimbles, kids with multiple appendages, contortionists, kids with skin of every sorts of colors-everyone thought it was the coolest thing in the world...until the Kingrah police became flooded with reports from parents about how their children were missing and began making a connection that all of them had mysteriously 'vanished' when Yingya's circus was in town. They started following him around and eventually found out that the nut was kidnapping some kids who came to his place and transforming them into his own personal attraction."

"And dey just let demselves become freaks?!" Joey cried in disbelief.

"They didn't know any better; he also completely wiped their memories clean in the transformation process and fed them some sappy story about how he 'saved' them from dying terribly tragic deaths and would let them stay with him on the condition that he let them just be shown to the public once in a while so people could feast their eyes on them and adore them in all of their 'fantastical glory'." He snorted. "Real sweetheart. Anyway, once he was found out, they arrested him and locked him up for five thousand years. He apparently didn't learn a single lesson from his jail stay, however, because soon afterwards he got out from underneath police watch and managed to escape to your dimension. And now, apparently, the freakin' sonuva baka has zapped himself up an entire circus of his own, just so he can kidnap a couple of mortal kids, turn _them _into his personal freak show, and ensure that he can go back and start his circus up in our world without worry of being thrown back in jail for kidnapping kids of the Dimension of the Gods."

The other six stared at him in sheer horror. "Oh no…" Yugi murmured. "This must be why all of those kids were trying to get over there when they heard the circus music…"

"Probably some sort of mind control embedded within the tune," Spencer said. "Wouldn't affect anyone from our world, but definitely could work on younger kids from yours."

"We've gotta get over there and stop him before he can take any other kids," Tristan cried, turning to dash out of the woods.

Spencer grabbed him by the back of his shirt collar, stopping him in his dash. "Not so fast," he said. "There are way too many people around here at the moment for us to successfully get them out without drawing out a heckuva lotta attention to ourselves. We've gotta wait and come back much, much later, when everyone's gone and we can just face Yingya all on our own."

"You want us to just _wait_?" Kaiba cried. _"That freak has transformed my little brother into some sea beast and you expect us to just wait?! WHO KNOWS WHAT COULD HAPPEN TO MOKUBA BY THE TIME WE GET TO HIM?!"_

His entire outline started sparking with large amounts of white lightning, illuminating the dark forest and threatening to set the nearby trees on fire. Everyone quickly jumped away from him to avoid getting hit by the bolts.

"Kai, calm down!" Spencer yelled, shielding his eyes from the bright light. "Yingya won't do a thing to your brother-he…" He paused to consider his words. "He sees your brother, unfortunately, as some nice investment of his. He'd never attempt to just 'get rid of him' or something; the sicko values him too highly for that. Trust me, he'll be all right come nightfall."

Kaiba slowly let his sparks fade away. "Fine, I'll wait," he snapped, "but come nighttime, what you say about Mokuba won't be able to be said as well for that insane ringmaster."

He turned, walked out of the wooded area, and made his way back down the path. The others stared after him, still in slight shock, as he left.

"Geez, I've never seen Kaiba dat ticked off before," Joey commented. "An for him, dat's a big achievement."

"Well, it's not all that surprising," Yugi said. "Kaiba would do anything to keep Mokuba safe-he even tried risking his life for him back in Duelist Kingdom."

"We, um, might wanna try to steer clear of him for the time being, though." Spencer said. "When somebody with our kinds of powers gets really, _really _ticked off, who knows what can happen."

"Oh, c'mon, this is Kaiba we're talking about," Tristan rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, I mean, him just usin' his magic widdout even hesitatin'?" Joey snorted. "De day dat happens is de day he goes widdout ever havin' dat scowl on his face even for one sec."

"Guys, this is also magic we're talking about," Spencer said. "When that's around, then anything is possible…"


	5. Chapter Four: Who I Am

Chapter Four: Who I Am

The sea creature was lying in his glass tub, staring up at its ceiling. He was a little bit bored just hanging around in the wagon and acting all 'monstrous' whenever the Yingya guy zapped him into the tent so that the humans could feast his eyes on him…but on the bright side, at least he now had some company.

He sat up and gazed around at the newcomers. First, there was a boy with six arms, three on each side, in the cage closest to him, wearing a special sleeveless shirt with three holes on each side and blue jeans. He held his head up in one hand while drumming his fingers on the other five on the ground. Next, there was a young girl who was apparently what Yingya had called a 'contortionist' wearing a full-bodied black leotard covered in sequins. She was laying her head on the ground and running the rest of her body 'around' herself in boredom, watching her feet as they ran by her face. Finally, there was a boy who was apparently part-wolf. He was covered completely in brown fur with a black, dog-like nose on his face and dark claws sticking out on his hands, with his only piece of clothing being a torn-up pair of pants.

It was a little nice, to know that he was far from being alone as a freak in this world. But it was a little weird…it seemed like a new kid kept appearing right after Yingya gave him some tuna fish to eat…come to think of it, every time he ate that tuna, afterwards he'd become really sleepy and have to shut his eyes for a little while...and whenever he woke up, there was yet another freak occupying one of the cages sitting where there hadn't been one before…was Yingya spiking his food with something?

The sea creature immediately banished the thought from his mind. Yingya wouldn't do that to him-he saved him from dying. Of course, he wished that he could actually remember being rescued…

While he was pondering, he lied back down and put his hand behind his head. He absent-mindedly started playing with the leather string around his neck.

Wait…leather string?

The sea creature sat back up and pulled the leather string upwards from behind his neck. From underneath his shirt came the rest of the string, which apparently had a rather large charm laced onto it shaped like a brown card with gold trim and a large black oval in its center.

He took the card charm in his hand and looked down at it. He ran his finger around it, thinking to himself, _What is this?_

Suddenly, he apparently pressed down onto some little switch which snapped the card open. It was apparently a locket of sorts, with a picture inside of a smiling little boy with brown hair and blue eyes wearing a yellow shirt and blue vest.

_Who's this_…?

He stared at the picture for some time, trying to figure out who the kid in it was. _He looks…familiar…I know him from somewhere...what's his name…c'mon, there's gotta be something in here…_He closed his eyes and rapped his knuckles against his head. _Think! Brown hair, blue eyes…_

The creature paused.

_Blue Eyes…_

A thought flooded his head of a large, white dragon with shining blue eyes…he had been riding on the back of it one time…he wasn't supposed to be there, but he'd gone along anyway because he wanted to help the dragon out with its problem…especially since it was his brother's favorite…

His brother's…yeah, that was who that kid was…he'd been riding on the dragon's back with him…except he was older now, much older…and he didn't really smile anymore like he did in that picture…but he was still the only family he had, and they'd always stuck together no matter what…just him and Seto.

Seto…

Mokuba's eyes snapped open. He sat up with complete shock and horror written all over his face. _Seto! _

Now he remembered. He wasn't a sea creature; not even remotely close. He was Mokuba Kaiba, vice president of Kaiba Corp, and younger brother of CEO Seto Kaiba.

He looked down at his green, webbed hands again and stared at them now with disgust. This was not him; it was some other, weird creature-like version of him. But how did he end up this way…He shut his eyes and tried to think, but that part of his mind was still a little fuzzy.

_Let's see…what do I remember last…I was going home from school in the limo…I opened the window and heard this music playing…then after that I got out of the limo to check out the circus wagon going by…the ringmaster guy took me up into the wagon…and after that…_He winced in a strain to bring up some memory, but nothing came to mind; it was a complete blur to him.

Just then, he heard the squeak of the front doors to the room opening up. He lifted his head up and saw that the ringmaster was coming back into the place, pushing the door open with his shoulder since his two hands were holding onto a tray piled with fried chicken legs, a soft pretzel, raw ham still on its bone…and the tuna fish.

Mokuba quickly laid his head back down, curled up at the bottom of the tub, and shut his eyes. He started breathing heavily in an attempt to feign sleep.

Through the water and glass, Mokuba just barely heard Ringmaster Yingya's voice call out: "Snack time!" One by one, Mokuba heard the sound of Yingya's footsteps walking around the room, then the doors to the other freak's cages squeaking open. Yingya spoke to each of the kids: "Some raw ham for you, my little wolf…for you, my dear, a pretzel as twisted up as yourself…these are for you, young man, enough for you to hold one leg in each of your hands at once…"

Finally, Mokuba heard the footsteps approach his tub. There was a rapping on the glass, and Yingya called inside: "Hello? My little sea creature, I've got some tuna for you!"

He didn't dare respond; he simply kept his eyes shut and continued heavily breathing.

"Already asleep, huh?" Yingya muttered to himself. Well, that saves me a lot of trouble, then."

Yingya's footsteps turned and walked away from the tub. The doors to the wagon squeaked open and shut again.

Mokuba slowly opened his eyes and looked around at the cages. The six-armed boy held a chicken leg in each of his hands and took a bite one by one from each piece, working from the top to the bottom; the contortionist was lying on the ground, holding her soft pretzel between her toes and occasionally lifting her leg up towards her mouth to take a bite; and the wolf-kid was gnawing down with fervor on the ham bone.

Eventually, however, the three freaks slowly let their food fall from their grasps. They let their eyelids drop, and their breathing became quite heavy and deep.

Mokuba narrowed his eyes. So Yingya _was_ spiking their food with some kind of sleeping potion or something…but why…

The wagon doors creaked open again. Mokuba quickly shut his eyes again and listened as Yingya stepped back into the place, followed by a pair of smaller, more youthful footsteps.

"So, little one, this is it-a sneak preview of my future sideshow. Look around at all of these incredible creatures. Aren't they magnificent?"

"Wow," said a young, female voice. "This is cool…is that a werewolf?"

"Something like that, yes," Yingya replied.

"Ooh, and what's that? A sea creature?"

Mokuba tried not to wince at the thought that it must have been _him _she was referring to.

"Yes, it is," Yingya's voice said. "And now, my dear child, we're going to add one more freak to the show."

"What is it?" the girl asked eagerly.

"You."

Mokuba heard the girl let out an ear-splitting scream. He opened his eyes just a slit to see that Yingya was holding his hands out towards a ten-year-old girl with black hair drawn up into pigtails wearing red-framed glasses and a Japanese school uniform consisting of a white oxford shirt, pleated blue and red skirt, knee-high white socks, and flat brown shoes. Coming out of his hand was a beam of jagged red magic which struck the girl with full force, surrounding her outline with a sparking red glow.

The little girl's scream died out as she lapsed into unconsciousness from the shock of the magic flowing through her. Mokuba watched in shock as the girl became slightly transparent, and her legs fused together to become a stream of a smoke-like substance which tapered off at the bottom. Yingya smiled with sick delight and said to himself, "Perfect…a real life phantom-no one could resist seeing something as rare as that!"

Once her transformation into a phantom was complete, Yingya rose his whip up and cracked it onto the ground. A stream of red magic flew out of its tip and went up towards the nearby, empty red-glowing cage, zapping its door and flinging it wide open. Yingya used his stream of magic still focused on the girl to move her inside of the cage. Once she was fully within, Yingya let his stream of magic fade away. He walked over to the cage and slammed its barred door shut.

Now that Yingya wasn't going to be distracted for much longer, Mokuba quickly shut his eyes again. He heard Yingya say to himself, "Not bad…five little children in just one day. A few more days here in this mortal town, and I'll have the best freak show in the history of the Dimension of the Gods!"

Mokuba shivered a little as Yingya laughed maniacally, his mirthful cries slowly fading away as his footsteps walked to the back of the room and the doors creaked open and shut once more.

_A freak show?! _he thought in horror. _I don't wanna be some freak forever! Seto, HELP!_


	6. Chapter Five: Freak Attack

Chapter Five: Freak Attack

Late that night, the eight heroes quietly crept down the path running through the park towards the circus area. Seto Kaiba was leading the way; his Blue Eyes essence had already been brought out, though the fury in the form of the dragon-human combination didn't come close to showing the rage within his heart. Clutched firmly in one hand was his Duel Monster card locket with a picture of his younger brother taken a long time ago inside. _I swear, Mokuba, _he thought to himself, _I'll save you and take that ringmaster freak down if it's the last thing I ever do…_

When they reached the circus area, only the light of a half-moon illuminated the clearing, revealing animals sleeping in their wagon cages and food carts whose machines had been switched off for the night. It was eerily silent compared to before, with all of the children and their parents long gone-although, perhaps some of the kids had yet to leave…

Pharaoh looked around the clearing and murmured, "Now where would Yingya hide any children whom he kidnapped…"

"We don't have time to just guess," Kaiba snapped. "We have to get Mokuba and any other kids he's turned into freaks out of here immediately-Spencer, go sense them out."

"I was about to do that, thank you," Spencer rolled his eyes. "Word of warning, though-this entire place is made out of Yingya's magic, so it might take a little while to get a hold of something out of the ordinary."

"Then send something else out as well! Something personally directed towards Mokuba! One of those mental messages or something!"

Spencer paused. "Welll…Mokuba's probably brainwashed and won't even remember his own name…but I guess that's worth a shot."

He closed his eyes, turned his head up towards the sky, and let his outline start glowing with gold magic.

* * *

Mokuba was sleeping on the bottom of his water-filled glass tub, holding the locket with his brother's picture close to his chest, when he thought he heard somebody speaking from somewhere nearby. He quietly opened his eyes, sat up, and looked around. The other four carnival freaks were sleeping, and no one else was in the room. He thought to himself, _Who's there?_

_Mokuba…_

He knew that voice…and it almost sounded like it was coming from inside of his head…

Mokuba closed his eyes and focused hard. _Spencer? Is that you?_

_Mokuba? _Spencer's voice sounded shocked. _You seriously remember me? I thought you'd have had a completely blank memory by now!_

_I did,_ Mokuba replied, _but I had some help with getting it back from Seto…_He smiled down at the Duel Monster card locket he still clutched in his hand.

_I don't quite understand what you mean by that, but you can explain later-right now, can you tell me where you are?_

_I'm not sure…_Mokuba looked around. _I'm in a room with a whole bunch of kids turned into carnival sideshow freaks…it's completely red, and has a bunch of cages inside, and two doors at the back…_

_Hmm…where did Yingya take you when he first took you away?_

_Inside of a circus wagon…a red and white one with the words 'Cirque du Shadows' written on the side…but this place is too big to be the inside of there…_

_Actually, with a little magic, no room could be too big for any space,_ Spencer said. _Thank you for the tip, Mokuba-we'll try looking for that place._

_You're wel-_Mokuba suddenly stopped. The doors at the back of place were creaking open once more.

_Mokuba? What's wrong?_

_He's here! _Mokuba screamed. _That Ringmaster guy is coming in!_

_Shh…don't worry, Mokuba, I highly doubt he'd try to hurt you. _Spencer paused. _Hey…you think you could start causing a little commotion with him? That could make it far easier to find you, plus we could take down that thug at the same time._

_I could do that,_ Mokuba replied as Yingya stepped into the room. _I think I even know how I could really push his buttons…_

_Excellent! You start doing that, Mokuba…_Spencer's voice faded away.

"HEY!"

Yingya had been about to shut the door behind him, but the sudden outburst from Mokuba made him freeze in place. He looked back at the glass tub and cried, "Child, don't scare me like that! You'll give me a heart attack!"

"Don't you actually need a heart to have an attack?" Mokuba replied.

Yingya frowned. He took his hand off of the door and walked over to Mokuba's tub. "What do you mean by that? How could you accuse me of not having a heart, child-I saved your life!"

"NO YOU DIDN'T!" Mokuba screamed. "YOU KIDNAPPED ME AND FED ME NOTHING BUT TOTAL BULL! I'M A HUMAN KID, NOT A SEA CREATURE!"

Yingya's eyes opened wide with horror. "WHAT?! HOW IN THE WORLD COULD YOU GET OUT OF BEING BRAINWASHED?!" he screamed out in rage.

"I HAD SOME HELP!" Mokuba snapped as loudly as he could. "NOW LET ME OUT OF HERE AND TURN ME BACK TO NORMAL!"

Yingya narrowed his eyes. His outline started glowing with red magic. "I've got a better idea," he hissed. He uncoiled his whip and rose it upwards. "I'LL JUST PUT THE SPELL BACK ON AND MAKE SURE THAT _THIS TIME_, YOU WON'T BREAK IT!"

Mokuba gasped and put his hands over his head in horror, wincing his eyes shut.

"Put. That. Down."

Mokuba slowly opened his eyes at the sound of the familiar voice. Yingya had whipped around to see that the eight heroes were standing in the doorway to the wagon, outlines gleaming brightly with their various shades of magic. Kaiba was standing at the front of them, his entire body sparking wildly with electricity, sharp teeth bared and blue eyes narrowed in a nasty glare.

Mokuba grinned. "Seto!"

Kaiba gave him a small smile, then looked at Yingya with daggers in his eyes. "I am only going to tell you this once," he snarled, stepping forward. "Let him GO!"

"What-you honestly think that I'm going to just give him up to you like that?" Yingya threw back his head and laughed. "Sorry, but I don't take demands to release my cash sources from a few pathetic little heroes."

"Ahem." Spencer stepped forward and said, "Excuse me, Yingya, but my friends are far from being pathetic little heroes."

"Ah, King Spencer, your majesty!" Ringmaster Yingya bowed down to him mockingly. "You always do manage to catch up with your escaped villains sooner or later, don't you?" He rose his whip up. "Shame that this time, you won't be able to get away with them."

He cracked the whip down to the ground, sending out four streams of magic towards the cages which held the other four transformed mortal kids. The streams zapped the doors to the cages and flung them wide open with loud creaks, snapping the sideshow attractions out of their slumber.

"My dear children! These eight are attempting to take me away from you and send you right back to where you came from!" Yingya cried, pointing at the eight heroes. "Don't let that happen! Get them!"

The four attractions snarled angrily at the heroes and charged towards them at full speed. The eight heroes quickly prepared to retaliate.

* * *

The six-armed boy angrily went right towards Yuri, hands straight out in front of him. Yuri quickly held out his own two hands and pressed them up against the top ones, halting the boy right in his tracks. He attempted to move, but against Yuri's incredible strength, he was pretty much powerless.

After shoving against him for some time, the boy changed tactics and started using his other four arms to tickle Yuri right in his rib cages. He desperately attempted to hold his grip and stop from weakening through a burst of laughter.

Tristan saw his plight and quickly conjured up a bunch of hands to grab at the boy's other four and yank them back. Yuri took a few moments to catch his breath, then used the majority of his strength to shove the child onto the ground, with Tristan assisting by yanking him backwards at the same time. The vast amount of force exerted on him knocked him out cold the moment he struck the ground.

* * *

Joey shifted one of his arms into muscle-enhanced diamond and charged towards the contortionist girl. However, she quickly bent over backwards, swung her legs upwards, and used them to shove him back.

He fell onto the ground in shock from the push. He quickly got back onto his feet and glared at the girl as she waved merrily at him.

Suddenly, however, her hand froze in midair, held back by some unseen force. She quickly rose up her other hand to strike whatever had grabbed her, but it, too, was suddenly stopped by something that had nabbed her. She kicked her legs backwards wildly, but all that she could manage to hit was air.

Joey grinned and charged back towards the girl, muscle-enhanced diamond arm held straight out. He socked her right in the stomach, then, while she was still reeling, landed another one right in her face.

The contortionist slumped forward. Pharaoh suddenly appeared behind her, having been invisible the entire time and grasping firmly onto her wrists, and set her down onto the ground on her back.

* * *

Téa recoiled backwards in horror as the werewolf snarled at her nastily and let drool drip from its mouth. It rose on of its claws upwards and prepared to slash them at Téa.

Upon seeing it preparing to strike, she quickly shoved all of her fears aside. Before the creature could bring its claws down and slash them through her face, she took in a deep breath and let out an ear-splitting banshee shriek. The werewolf clutched its hands to its pointed ears and let out a loud howl of pain.

Spencer crept up behind it while it was distracted and brought his staff down onto its head. The werewolf fell onto the ground in a heap.

* * *

The phantom girl floated up to Bakura while letting out an unearthly wail. Unafraid of yet another ghost coming his way, he simply snapped his fingers and called out some nearby good spirits hanging around, appearing as wispy grey orbs.

After sending them a bit of ectoplasm to increase their strength, the spirits went forwards to the girl and held her back. She struggled and squirmed to break free from their grasp, but their strength was far too much for her.

Finally, Bakura zapped out a beam of grey magic at her and sent her flying backwards. She collapsed onto the ground, the spirits that had been holding her vanishing back into thin air.

* * *

Kaiba faced Yingya with lightning blazing all around him. Mokuba watched him through the glass tub, gazing at him pleadingly with his dark eyes.

"Get my brother out of there, NOW!" Kaiba screamed out at Yingya angrily, practically roaring in rage.

"Oh, you wouldn't want me to do that," Yingya smirked. "If I let him out, then he's not gonna be able to breathe-after all, how can some sea creature survive on land?"

He threw back his head and laughed. Kaiba responded by firing out a beam of white lightning towards him, sending him flying back into the wagon wall and holding him up there.

Yingya snarled and used his one hand to fire out red magic towards him. Kaiba simply soared up into the air, spreading his wings to their full extent, and continued firing out the jagged bolts. The red magic simply crashed into the back wall of the room and formed a smoking hole in it.

After Yingya had been suffering from the pain of the searing powers running through every fiber of his being, he angrily narrowed his eyes and let them glow with red magic. "All right, you freak of nature yourself-if you want me to turn your brother back, then I shall."

Smiling sweetly, he cracked down his whip and sent a stream of red magic through the glass tub and directly into Mokuba. The green scales slowly transformed back into tannish skin, the webs between his fingers disappeared, and the fins shrank back into nothingness.

Mokuba grinned as he observed his perfectly normal hands again for a moment. Then, realizing he needed some air, he turned and started swimming up towards the surface.

Yingya gave a small, devilish grin and cracked his whip again, sending out another stream of red magic. This one zapped up against the glass tank, pushing its top down towards the surface of the water so that the entirety of the tank was completely filled with the stuff.

Horrified, Kaiba flung an orb of white lightning at Yingya which smacked up against his head, knocking him out cold. His beam disappeared as he flew back down to the ground and dashed over towards Mokuba's tub. Mokuba rapped up against the glass fearfully and let out a small yelp, sending little bubbles flowing up from his mouth.

Kaiba angrily started blasting up against the glass with all of the electricity he had, but Yingya's spell made it hold fast. The others, seeing Mokuba's plight, quickly ran up beside Kaiba and assisted him in his blasting, but no matter what they did, the glass simply refused to shatter.

Mokuba's eyes started bulging and he pounded up against the glass with increased fervor. Kaiba looked at him through the tub with extremely angered and fearful eyes and cried out, "Mokuba, hold on!"

Eventually, however, the lack of air became too overpowering for Mokuba; he collapsed down onto the floor of the glass tub. Kaiba simply continued blasting, refusing to give up that easily, but his efforts were completely futile.

"Kai, stop!" Spencer yelled out, careful not to come too close to the white lightning surrounding his entire being. "That glass isn't going to break! You're just wasting energy!"

At last, Kaiba slowly let his jagged bolts of lightning fade away. He pressed his hands up against the glass tank and slumped down on his knees towards the ground. He wanted to shut his eyes, but he knew that even if he did that, the image before him wouldn't go away.

_No…_


	7. Chapter Six: Watery Ability

Chapter Six: Watery Ability

The eight heroes stared at Kaiba's sprawled-out little brother inside of his watery grave in sheer shock. Young Mokuba had been their friend, and they absolutely hated to let him down like that.

Kaiba simply stared down at the ground, hands still pressed up against the glass walls of the tub. "Mokuba…" he whispered to himself.

No one else could bring themselves to speak. They had no clue what they could possibly say that could alleviate the devastation he felt.

Eventually, Pharaoh brought himself to murmur, "Kaiba…we're very sorry for your loss…"

Kaiba finally looked up. The other heroes were stunned to see white magic shining brightly in his eyes. "You don't need to be sorry…he's not gone…" he snarled through clenched teeth. "I'm not letting him go that easily."

Everyone stepped back in shock as his outline began gleaming with brilliant, dazzling white light. He started blasting white magic out of his hands, still pressed against the glass tub, which enveloped the entirety of it in a white glow.

Kaiba shut his blazing white eyes and murmured to himself, "Blue Eyes White Dragon…grant me your strength…"

To everyone's complete disbelief, the faint outline of the Blue Eyes White Dragon itself appeared above him, mouth open in a loud roar which reverberated throughout the entire caravan. The Blue Eyes appeared to be enhancing some of his magical abilities, making his aura almost blinding.

Kaiba began chanting:

_The watery depths surrounding him shall now become his power,_

_He will control them, breathe in them with ease, no matter what the hour…_

He opened his eyes, turned and looked over at Ringmaster Yingya. Snarling, he concluded,

_And you, Ringmaster, as for your abilities,_

_They shall become my brother's, no longer to use as _you _please! _

He flung one hand out towards the Ringmaster. A spiraling beam of white magic burst forth and struck the man head-on.

The other seven heroes watched, dumbstruck, as Yingya's aura slowly turned a deep shade of crimson. The crimson split off from the man's outline in a thin, floated up into the air, and wrapped itself into a glowing red orb spitting out small red sparks which dissipated into the air.

The red orb hovered in the air before the Ringmaster just a few moments before it floated through the glass and absorbed itself into Mokuba's unconscious form. The crimson glow now surrounded his outline in an eerie, mystical light before it slowly faded away.

Kaiba pulled his hands away from the tub, the white glow surrounding it vanishing in an instant. The outline of the Blue Eyes above him faded away, its great power no longer needed.

Kaiba watched Mokuba still lie on the glass bottom for a few moments. He held his breath as he watched hopefully for some sign of life.

_Mokuba…get up…_

The younger Kaiba brother's eyelids fluttered. In what felt an eternity to Kaiba, Mokuba slowly opened his eyes.

Groggily, he brought himself up to a sitting position and looked around at the others' enthralled faces that wavered from the movement of the water. His eyes slowly fell onto his older brother's face. Kaiba was giving him one of his extraordinarily rare smiles as one tear fell down from the corner of his eye.

"Seto?" Mokuba murmured.

"Hello, Mokuba," Kaiba said. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine…I think…"

It took him another couple of seconds before it suddenly struck him that he was actually talking, not to mention breathing, underwater. He clutched one hand to his throat in shock. "Uh…am I all right?" he asked, fearing that he'd lost his mind.

"You're fine, Mokuba," Kaiba smiled. "The water can no longer harm you. It's yours to control."

Mokuba stared at him through the glass. He looked down at his hands, then held them out towards the glass walls of the tub.

The others stepped back as the water in the tub suddenly shifted and moved up against the glass walls. Mokuba's jaw dropped open as he pushed the new wall of water against his enclosure to try and break it down. "Whoa…" he breathed.

"The spell on the tub is stopping the glass from breaking!" Spencer called to Mokuba. "You're gonna need to break it with the same powers that created the spells!"

Mokuba glanced up at him and asked, "How are we going to get the Ringmaster to do that?"

Kaiba shook his head. "He can't. He doesn't have any abilities anymore. As of now, they're all yours. And for just this once, use them for what they're worth."

Mokuba stared at his brother, a grin slowly spreading across his face. "You…you gave me some magic?" he whispered excitedly to Kaiba.

Kaiba glanced down at the ground. "Yes," he murmured as his signature frown appeared. Only now did he suddenly realize, to his chagrin, that he'd just used magic without hesitation.

Mokuba, on the other hand, looked absolutely ecstatic. He shut his eyes and focused.

Slowly, his outline started glowing with red magic. Small beams of it soared out of his hands, struck up against the water, and spread their way around it, giving the wavy blue itself a crimson aura.

As soon as the red powers spread their way in entirety around the water, Mokuba opened his eyes, now gleaming brightly with red magic, and screamed out, "BREAK!"

The glass shattered into thousands of pieces from the force of the water and magic. Everyone quickly moved as the water burst out of the tub and splashed down to the wagon floor. The magic-water mixture began to spread its way around the entirety of the caravan. The instant it touched Yingya's creation, the red wood began to waver easily, as though it was made of rubber, until it all finally came together at the center of the ceiling. The four freaks lying on the ground were soaked with the mystic liquid as well, though instead of wavering, they were simply engulfed in bright red light.

Then, in the blink of an eye, the caravan vanished in its entirety. The eight heroes let out small cries of shock as the floor vanished from beneath them, dropping them onto the ground. When the four freaks engulfed in red light hit the ground, the glow around them faded away. Any and all signs of their former freakiness were gone, the spell cast on them lifted.

With his glass prison no longer barring him inside, Mokuba dashed stragiht into his brother's arms. The heroes watched and smiled as the two embraced in a tearful reunion.

"Seto," Mokuba whispered into his brother's ear, "I…I honestly thought I was going to die…"

"I'd never just let that happen to you, Mokuba," Kaiba gently whispered back. "I would do anything to keep you safe. Anything."

Mokuba glanced up at him with tears flooding down his face. "You even used your magic powers, didn't you."

Kaiba paused. He was still ashamed of himself, but lying to his younger brother about what had occurred seemed rather pointless. "Yes, Mokuba…"

Mokuba grinned and said, "Thanks. That means a lot coming from you."

Kaiba smiled gently as Mokuba tightened his embrace happily.

"Aw, man, I hate these sappy moments," Joey said, wiping one tear away from his eye. "Dey always seem ta make me get someting in my eye."

Just then, Ringmaster Yingya slowly opened his eyes. He looked around at the heroes and let his eyes fall onto Kaiba and Mokuba. Narrowing them, he snapped, "So you managed to get him out after all, huh?" He brought himself to his feet, too dazed to notice that his caravan was gone. "How wonderful for you," he sneered. "But it's not like you're escaping your fate that easily!"

He rose up his whip and, with a roar, cracked it onto the ground.

No stream of magic came out, of course.

Yingya stared down at the whip in horror. "What the-"

"Sorry, ringmaster," Kaiba mocked him, "but as of now, your powers are the property of my younger brother."

Yingya snapped his head up. "WHAT?! That's not even possible!!"

"Would you like to bet on that?"

He looked down at Mokuba's eager face and said, "Let's show him what happens when you mess with the two of us."

"Yes, Seto," Mokuba grinned.

Kaiba rose up one hand and flung out a bolt of crackling white electricity at Yingya, holding him up in the air within a blazing hot orb of lightning.

Mokuba rose up his hands and created tiny orbs of water in them; then, with a small battle cry, he flung them out in streams of swirling liquid and sent them swirling around his brother's own white lightning.

The water and electricity combined shocked Yingya to the very core, making him scream out in sheer horror. It didn't take long, however, for his shrieking to cease and his body to become limp.

Kaiba and Mokuba let their electricity and water beams seize, sending the Ringmaster back to the ground with a thud. Kaiba let his Blue Eyes essence return to the stone and walked towards Yingya. He grabbed him by the wrist and dragged him over to Spencer.

"Please put this psycho in the draftiest and coldest cell that you've got in your prison," he said, holding his hand out to Spencer.

"Uhh…yeah, sure, of course," Spencer said. He took Yingya's wrist and, with his free hand, zapped up a custom portal box. He placed it onto the ground and sent a golden spark into its opening, creating a glowing white portal from within which led directly to the entrance of the Bastet Prison.

He walked through the portal, dragging Yingya behind him, and let the doorway close up.

After they had watched him leave, Mokuba looked up at his brother and asked, "Seto? Now that I've got these powers…do I have to start coming and fighting with you guys all the time?"

Kaiba turned and stared down at him. It was easy to tell that he felt nothing but horror at the thought of his brother being in constant danger nearly all of the time. "Uh…"

"Not just yet, Mokuba," Tristan quickly interjected.

"It would probably be preferable if we waited until you were older and a bit more experienced with using it," Pharaoh added.

"So, uh, you don't need ta use dem unless some nut is chargin' right towards ya, awright?" Joey finished.

Mokuba nodded. "Okay." He looked up at his brother. "C'mon, Seto, let's go home."

Kaiba nodded. "I'll concur with that, Mokuba."

The two Kaiba brothers turned and walked back into the forest of the park, leaving the others to stare after them.

Once they were out of earshot, Joey asked, "What in de world just happened?"

"Something really, really, really weird," Tristan replied.

"Well, it appears Spencer was correct," Pharaoh said. "When it comes to magic, anything is truly possible…"


End file.
